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In a sense, the traveling crowd has played a major role in spurring cable operators to provide more on-demand services. For years, hotel guests have been iTV guinea pigs, trying out nascent in-room interactive and video-on-demand services, and consequently wondering, "Why can't I have this at home?" Pioneer on-demand provider On Command has been developing interactive platforms for hotels aroun...

At one time, the "overbuilder" model was a Wall Street darling. Today, network operators building competitive HFC networks would be lucky if venture capitalists take their call. But despite some high-profile overbuilder flame-outs, the competitive model is being market-tested in a few regions around the country.

Broadband enthusiasts have long considered the medical community to be a potential benefactor of the technology. Now, a unique agreement forged by Hughes Network Systems Inc., the Advanced Technology Institute and the Columbia Eye Clinic promises to finally provide tangible evidence of broadband's advantages.

Tylite Inc., a designer of Ethernet over fiber networks, says it has developed a subscriber demarcation box and fiber optic system design that allow network providers to deliver high-speed Internet and broadcast video services over an Ethernet fiber network. This product is primarily aimed at municipalities, Public Utility Districts (PUDs) and residential developers, Tylite executives say.

Proponents of interactive television services are hoping that some of the early iTV successes in the U.K. and Europe will carry over to the North American market. More people are using their televisions to play along with game shows, bet on live sporting events and shop in the U.K. than in any other country in the world.

When it's in the Times, you know it's news - even if you've already heard about it. The New York Times is reporting that Time Warner Cable sent out a small number of letters last week to New York City cable-modem subscribers warning that operating wireless networks and inviting others to freely share them violated their subscription agreements.

Cable vet Steve Necessary has left the top post at PowerTV Inc. to join Concurrent Computer Corp. as president of the company's "Xstreme" video-on-demand division. Necessary reports to Concurrent President and CEO Jack Bryant, who had been the acting president of Xtreme since joining Concurrent in Oct.

Collapsing under the weight of a $500 million deficit and only enough cash on hand to last a few more weeks, video-on-demand vendor Diva Systems Corp. completed its death spiral in late May, filing Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. Holding true to rumors that had swirled for weeks, Gemstar-TV Guide International then swooped in to acquire Diva's i...

The very public trials and tribulations of their parent company notwithstanding, Adelphia Business Solutions is trumpeting some initial success as leader of a program to network Pennsylvania state government offices and agencies. ABS, the business services spin-off of troubled parent Adelphia Communications, leads a consortium of 13 companies in a project to bring high-bandwidth voice, data, In...

Wimbledon, tennis' most regal fortnight, is getting an interactive facelift this year, thanks to a collaboration between Turner Sports Inc. and the All England Lawn & Tennis Club. In addition to the usual coverage on TNT, some viewers are also getting treated to Wink-enabled polls and trivia, a VOD package that touts some classic Wimbledon matches and wireless updates from America Online.

Hoping to spur the powerline home networking sector, Cogency Semiconductor has launched a HomePlug wall adapter reference design with a USB interface. Cogency said it will sell the design and manufacturing kit to consumer electronics companies for about $25,000. Each kit includes all relevant manufacturing support materials, including schematics, bill of materials and layout guideline.

Pioneer Cable and Communications Group has added its name to the short list of companies to sign the CableLabs Point of Deployment Host Interface License Agreement. The PHILA agreement gives Pioneer access to Motorola Broadband's proprietary DFAST (Dynamic Feedback Arrangement Scrambling Technique) copy protection technology and configurations to build OpenCable-compliant set-top boxes that int...

MidStream Technologies hopes to take video-on- demand to the next level with a new high-density video server designed to push costs below $115 per stream, and perhaps break the $100 barrier in big volumes. The Bellevue, Wash.-based start-up also claims that its 2U-high IP2000 series server also gives more bang for the buck via a sustained throughput of 1.

A Delaware District Court jury has unanimously upheld an nCUBE Corp. patent for video-on-demand, ruling that rival vendor SeaChange International "willfully infringed the patent." The jury also ruled that SeaChange must pay nCUBE in excess of $2 million in damages, plus a seven percent royalty on all sales of infringing products after Feb.